THE FUTURE IS NOW

Thank you Chicago and thank you to Adam Shore and everyone at #REDBULLMUSIC for supporting our qtpoc community. Together we opened a portal to the future worlds where we all are valued and protected intergalactic citizens. Our spaceship which was powered by the #BLACKBOYJOY and #BLACKGIRLMAGIC of the windy city, took us over the moon and beyond the milky way. This was a movie, this was a wrinkle in time, this was FUTUREHOOD & FRIENDS.

The night kicked off with an amazing performance from BLU BONE with back up dancers and back up singers to boot. Blu birthed a Nebula upon the stage and it was time to take flight with a performance from the south side's youngest MC, Kidd Kenn. He and his crew were lit, Eriod. Then KC Ortiz and RuPaul's Drag Race's The Vixen refueled the engines with pure star power that took us to the level up, level up, level up level up level up.

FUTUREHOOD's Roy Kinsey took the penultimate position of the night and fed our souls with a "blackie experience" featuring his mothers, his sister, Mother Nature Barz, and sonic narratives from his 2018 LP, blackie a story by Roy Kinsey and #MOREROY EP ending with his anthem BSAYF.

The COOL MOM of FUTUREHOOD closed out the night with a whirlwind performance of her follow up to the FAGGOT EP, COOL MOM. Joined by dancers Darling Shear David Davis and her daughters: SkyShaker, Eli, Joy, and Rozay Labeija the stage was packed with family and over flowing with love. Re-live the night and supporting sets from Trqpiteca, Party Noir's Ray Chardonnay, & Hijo Prodigo on RED BULL RADIO

What next

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ON THE FLOOR Roy Kinsey at Red Bull Music Festival Chicago

Roy Kinsey has had a massive year. Librarian by day, rapper by night, the Chicago native followed up a string of releases with Blackie: A Story By Roy Kinsey, a conceptual album that tells the story of his family’s move to the Midwest during the Great Migration, and what it’s like growing up as a queer black man in Chicago. In this session he performs songs from the record at the Futurehood & Friends showcase, celebrating the Chicago label as part of the Red Bull Music Festival.

ON THE FLOOR Blu Bone, KC Ortiz and Kidd Kenn at Red Bull Music Festival Chicago

Recorded at the showcase celebrating the LGBTQ-centric label Futurehood, this episode features individual performances by Blu Bone, KC Ortiz and Kidd Kenn. Blu Bone was born in North Minneapolis, “where the rain is purple” — following a move to Chicago to study film, he connected with the Teklife crew and released his INTO NEBULA EP last year. Blu Bone raps and sings about everything from sex work to heartbreak, using classic house as a backdrop. Meanwhile, fellow Chicago-based artist KC Ortiz is a rapper who contrasts her DIY approach to songwriting and producing with the aesthetics of southern luxury. And teen rapper Kidd Kenn is coming quickly for the rap crown, with his 2018 debut album Childish, while ardently waving his rainbow flag.

ON THE FLOOR Mister Wallace at Red Bull Music Festival Chicago

Mister Wallace is a force. Together with Banjee Report member aCeb00mbaP, they launched their Futurehood imprint in 2016 with the Faggot EP — featuring guest verses by the likes of aCeb00mbaP and Cakes Da Killa, the EP and label ushered in a new generation of hip-hop artists whose queerness is an artistic focus. This year has been big for Mister Wallace, who followed up with a debut album, Cool Mom. In this session, they bring the fire on the mic at the Futurehood & Friends event in Chicago.

ON THE FLOOR Rae Chardonnay at Red Bull Music Festival Chicago

In this episode, Rae Chardonnay performs at Wicker Park venue Subterranean as part of the Futurehood & Friends showcase celebrating Chicago’s LGBTQ-centric label Futurehood. As well as holding down DJ residencies at Underground Wonder Bar and The Promontory, Chardonnay is the co-founder of Black Eutopia, a series of segmented programming intended to cultivate space for marginalized communities, and Party Noire, a day party that is, in her own words, “geared towards the uplifting and affirmation of the lives of Black women across the gender spectrum.”

ON THE FLOOR Hijo Pródigo at Red Bull Music Festival Chicago

Born Justin Ignatius Mitchell in Philadelphia, Hijo Pròdigo is a Chicago-based DJ and producer. Affiliated with the Futurehood label, their music collages diasporic sounds from communities of color onto dancefloor-functional club tracks. In this session, they smash out a hard-hitting club set filled with bass-laden, polyrhythmic techno.

ON THE FLOOR TRQPiTECA at Red Bull Music Festival Chicago

With TRQPiTECA, Chicago locals Natalie Murillo, AKA La Spacer, and CQQCHIFRUIT created a production company that provides space for expression in the queer community. While La Spacer is a native Chicagoan, CQQCHIFRUIT hails from Miami, and their sound is rooted in the traditions of house, bass and tropical rhythms. In this session, they perform b2b at the Futurehood showcase, championing the musical output of Chicago’s LGBTQ community.